Pedigree Insights: Galileo Gold

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Just two words–Galileo gold–were all that was needed to provide a near-perfect summary of the first Classic weekend of the European season (though they don't shine enough light on Paco Boy, sire of the equine Galileo Gold who triumphed in the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas).

It was Galileo who was responsible for Minding, Ballydoyle and Alice Springs, the three fillies who dominated the 16-runner G1 1000 Guineas, and he is also the sire of Galileo Gold's dam Galicuix. As if that weren't enough, Galileo's daughters produced at least four other winners last Saturday. One of them, Near England, is on course for Germany's fillies' Classics following her Listed Henkel-Stutenpreis victory, and another is Vanquish Run, the high-priced Deep Impact colt who won the G2 Japanese Derby Trial at Tokyo, to improve his record to three wins from four starts this year.

Remarkably, siring the first three in a Classic is nothing new for Galileo. He did so with his very first crop, when Sixties Icon, The Last Drop and Red Rocks dominated the 2006 G1 St Leger. Another example was the 2014 G1 Irish Derby, when Australia also led home a Galileo 1-2-3.

However, there was something new about Minding's success in the 1000 Guineas: she is the first daughter of the seven-time champion sire to win the Newmarket Classic, though he had previously finished second with Cuis Ghaire and Together.

In siring the 1000 Guineas winner, Galileo has now matched the magnificent feat of his sire Sadler's Wells, who was responsible for at least one winner of each of Britain's five Classics. Galileo still has work to do, though, if he is to match Sadler's Wells's 13 British victories, as his total currently stands at eight, thanks to Frankel, Gleneagles, Minding, New Approach, Ruler of the World, Australia, Was and Sixties Icon. Galileo has also now sired winners of the 1000 Guineas equivalents in Britain, Ireland (Nightime, Misty For Me and Marvellous) and France (Golden Lilac).

The Coolmore partners must be excited not only about the future racecourse opportunities for Minding, Ballydoyle and Alice Springs, but also about their prospects as broodmares. Galileo Gold follows Night of Thunder as the second 2000 Guineas winner in the last three years to have a dam by Galileo and last year's G1 Oaks winner Qualify is another out of a Galileo mare.

In fact, there are now more than 20 Northern Hemisphere group winners out of Galileo mares and we can expect to see plenty more in the next few years, as success as a broodmare sire tends to increase at an exponential rate.

Galileo's daughters (the oldest of which are 13-year-olds in 2016) were credited by Equineline with having 855 foals of racing age in 2014, with the figures rising to 1,248 foals in 2015 and now to 1,715 in 2016. Those figures represent a rise of 46% from 2014 to '15 and 37% from 2015 to '16. It also means that more than half of the total of 1,715 foals are youngsters aged two or three. This goes a long way towards explaining why Galileo's daughters are currently credited with only 45% starters.

It is interesting to look at the backgrounds of some of the Galileo mares which have already produced important winners. For example, the Japanese colt Vanquish Run is out of Lily of the Valley. This ex-French mare rounded off an unbeaten 3-year-old campaign with a victory over the redoubtable Stacelita in the 2010 G1 Prix de l'Opera. The dams of Qualify and Night of Thunder were also above average, achieving the respectable Timeform ratings of 105 and 99 respectively.

However, the dual Irish Group 1 winner La Collina was produced by a mating between the unraced Starfish and the inexpensive Strategic Prince. And the racing career of Galileo Gold's dam Galicruix was fairly disastrous. Her career consisted of a pair of mile-and-a-quarter maidens and she finished last both times, beaten 30 lengths on her debut and more than 20 lengths on her final appearance. She was sold for as little as 8,000gns in 2013, but her status has taken a huge turn for the better over the last year, thanks both to her own efforts and those of her half-brother Goldream.

Goldream's contribution was to win two of Europe's best five-furlong Group 1 races, the G1 King's Stand S. and the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp. Galicuix also hit the group-race target when Galileo Gold landed the G2 Qatar Vintage S. on his first appearance in the Al Shaqab colors. Now, two outings later, he's a Classic winner. That Vintage S. victory came in time to help his year-younger sister fetch £280,000 at Doncaster's Premier Yearling Sales.

Galileo Gold's connections can be forgiven for being unsure whether to target the G1 Investec Derby with their admirable son of Paco Boy. It bears repeating that only three colts–Nashwan, Sea The Stars and Camelot–have succeeded in pulling off the 2000 Guineas and Derby double since Nijinsky's Triple Crown victory in 1970.

The only way to know whether Galileo Gold will stay is to run him at Epsom, where the downhill run often helps doubtful stayers to be still in contention running into the final quarter. If Galileo Gold is to stay, it will be because Galicuix has Galileo as her sire and a half-sister to Montjeu as his third dam. Between them, Montjeu and Galileo have sired seven of the last 11 Derby winners.

Montjeu was also responsible for two winners of the G1 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot and three of the St Leger, helped no doubt by the fact that his dam Floripedes won the G3 Prix de Lutece over 1 7/8 miles. Floripedes was also a half-sister to Dadarissime, a triple group winner over distances just short of two miles. Dadarissime's sire Highest Honor also sired Cuixmala, Galileo Gold's third dam.

Cuixmala's best effort as a broodmare was the multiple French listed winner Mont Rocher, who won from a mile and a quarter to nearly two miles. One of the potential problems is that Mont Rocher was by a mile-and-a-half Classic winner, whereas Galileo Gold's second dam, the unraced Clizia, is by a much speedier horse in Machiavellian. This has helped Clizia produce a top five-furlong sprinter to a fast son of Green Desert. Of course it was another fast son of Green Desert, Desert Style, who sired Paco Boy. This family has produced another Classic winner over a mile to another Danzig-line stallion. This was the Danehill Dancer filly Again, whose dam Cumbreshad, possessed the stamina-packed pair of Kahyasi and Floripedes as her parents. Again ventured beyond a mile only once, when disappointing in the Prix de l'Opera.

Galileo Gold represents a real triumph for Paco Boy, confirming the promise the Highclere stallion had shown in 2014 by siring the group-winning 2-year-olds Beacon and Smaih in his first crop. With three other members of his first crop becoming listed winners in 2015, Paco Boy achieved the very encouraging figure of five black-type winners from a first crop of 95, which altogether includes 10 black-type earners. That's pretty good going for a stallion who started out at £8,500.

His second crop of 88 foals includes not only Galileo Gold but also Robanne, who took her chance in the 1000 Guineas, and Chicadoro, runner-up in Sunday's Pretty Polly S. Chicadoro stays a mile and a quarter, as do a few other talented performers by Paco Boy, including the very useful Peacock (out of a Rainbow Quest mare), Pacify (out of a Sadler's Wells mare) and Azraff. You won't find a mile-and-a-half performer among them though –not even the group-winning Smaih, whose broodmare sire is Galileo's brother Black Sam Bellamy.

This comes as no surprise in view of Paco Boy's own record and pedigree. The first four generations of his pedigree consist largely of milers and sprinters and Paco Boy himself was tried beyond a mile only once in a 24-race career. He never landed a blow on that occasion and within a few months he was running over six furlongs, when a creditable fourth in the G1 July Cup.

His speed brought him two wins from three juvenile starts, plus Group 1 victories at the ages of three, four and five, with the Group 1 wins coming over seven furlongs or a mile. Some of Timeform's assessment of him as a 5-year-old is worth mentioning:

“…speed was his major asset–he travelled strongly in his races and had a good turn of foot–and his best performances at a mile came on good going or firmer. It bears repeating that he was thoroughly genuine…”

The one thing Paco Boy lacked was a highly fashionable pedigree–as was underlined by the fact that he went through the sales ring four times before he raced, for a top price of 30,000gns as a 2-year-old. This has been reflected in his own fee, which was reduced to £6,500 this year, despite his encouraging start. Hopefully, he will receive more respect from now on.

 

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